


Is This Love?

by dametokillfor



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Asexual Mick Rory, Character Study, ColdAtom Week 2017, Multi, Pre-OT3, Pre-Slash, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-08 08:49:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11078154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dametokillfor/pseuds/dametokillfor
Summary: When Leonard Snart falls in love, he falls hard and he loves with all he has. Unfortunately Leonard Snart also fucks up, and fucks up hard.Written for ColdAtom Week 2017 day six, for the prompt OT3.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is for day six of ColdAtom Week 2017, for the prompt OT3.
> 
> This is very, very pre-OT3. This is 95% Leonard Snart character study. There is a second part of sorts mostly written which expands on the OT3 side of things a little, but it's in a very different style and didn't fit with the flow of the story. After ColdAtom week ends, I will return to it properly and fix it up for posting. 
> 
> This also includes both an ace character, and a trans character. I'm neither ace, nor trans, so these characters have been written with a LOT of research. I hope I've managed to do them justice, and do call me out for any problematic issues with either of them.
> 
> Also yes, the character you think is based on that actor is 100% based on that actor. He will always be at least a bit [Psyromayniak](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Psyromayniak)'s fault, but mostly The Loft's fault.

When Leo was 6, he met the most beautiful girl in the whole word. Her name was Olivia Wallace, and she was perfect. She was a little taller than him – but she was 8 - with pretty hazel eyes, and thick curly black hair. She played violin, and would practice on the jungle gym at school. Leo would sit and watch her for hours, as she played beautiful music that he’d never heard before.

 

She was perfect and Leo loved her.

 

It took him a whole three days before he finally got up the courage to tell her how he felt. He did so by presenting her with a daisy from his garden, and a drawing of them holding hands. Olivia grinned as she received his present, and leaned in to plant a kiss on his cheek.

 

Leo liked having a girlfriend. He would spend recess listening to her beautiful music, and hold her hand in the lunch line. Joey Behr teased him, yelled about cooties, but Leo didn’t care. (Besides Matt Sanders had given him a cooties shot a few days before,  _ just in case _ ).

 

After an acceptable amount of time – four days - Leo took Olivia home, and they played with his Lego. Olivia liked spaceships as much as Leo, and that made her even more perfect. Leo’s mom adored her, even made them  _ mac and cheese _ when she came round.

 

Their relationship lasted all of a week, before Olivia announced the spark had gone, but she would totally be Leo’s friend.

 

It was Leo’s first heartbreak, and he’d spent all night crying on his mom. She’d held him close, and let him have ice cream for dinner. She promised he’d love again, and he told her it was impossible.

 

(Olivia visited Len the first time he went to jail. She was even more beautiful at 21 than she had been at 8. Len almost felt his heart stop as she walked in, tall, elegant, a stomach heavy with child. They talked solidly for the entire hour, and Len felt his hard shell breaking down if only for a moment. Her last words before she left were a quip about regretting breaking up with him, as he quite clearly went off the rails because of it, and God, Len loved her for not pitying him.)

 

\---x

 

Len had had an inkling that he wasn’t as straight as he was supposed to be for a while, eyes lingering too long on Maverick during Top Gun, and dreams about Indiana Jones that left him hot and hard. He’d kept it under wraps as best he could, he didn’t need another reason for his Dad to beat him.

 

He’d only developed infatuations with men in movies, in magazines, people he didn’t know. Hiding it was easy. 

 

Then when Len was 14, he met Mick Rory and  _ everything _ changed.

 

A boy of 16, with thick blonde hair and a dangerous obsession with fire. He was everything Leonard wasn’t, a perfect contrast.

 

Where Len was skinny, Mick was thick. Where Len was mouthy, Mick was quiet, doing his talking through his fists. Len didn’t know why Mick bothered to save him from the shank, but he was glad he did. Len didn’t like owing anybody anything, but Mick didn’t seem like the kind of man who would expect the kind of payment Len couldn’t give.

 

He was also the first boy Len had fallen for.

 

Len had no idea what he was supposed to do, how he was supposed to go about  _ this  _ with another boy. He’d wooed pretty girls with flowers, chocolates, lifted cassettes and all the cliche chick stuff. Mick was different. Mick was a boy, and Mick was also in juvie. Posies weren’t going to work here. 

 

There was also the concern that Mick would kill him for even trying to proposition him. Len was still trying to figure himself out, how was he supposed to figure someone else out at the same time? 

 

So he tried other things. As they were working out, Len pushed himself a little too hard, so Mick can see just how strong he is. He made sure to compliment Mick as he was doing it himself, how buff, how big he was getting. He made sure to keep his shirt off as he worked out, his scars on show as a badge of pride, as a survivor. He got a goddamn prison tattoo of a flame on his arm, because he knew Mick was a pyromaniac.

 

And still nothing.  

 

It was driving him insane.

 

After Len made an ass out of himself showing himself off as they shower together, slipping on the soap and going head first into the tiled wall, Mick finally seemed to realise what was going on. After a trip to the nurses office, a few stitches across the gash in his forehead, Len was sent back to his cell, embarrassed and pissy. 

 

Mick had laughed the second he entered. He’d laughed long, he’d laughed loud, he’d nearly fallen off his bunk laughing. Len had stood there, and taken it. He was wrong, he didn’t like Mick, Mick was an asshole. Guys were assholes. Len was wrong. 

 

Mick had finally stopped laughing after what had felt like forever, leaving Len stood awkward and uncomfortable in the middle of the cell. Mick had got to his feet and walked over to Len, leaned in and given him the softest kiss Len thinks he’s ever felt. 

 

“I don’t… do this.” Mick told him, “Don’t like it, never have. Don’t like sex, kissin’, none of it.”

 

“Oh.” And Len couldn’t be much more embarrassed.

 

“But I like you.” Mick continued, trying to avoid Len’s eyeline. “And I kinda like cuddlin’.” 

 

Mick was dark red, and Len wondered if he was the first person he’d ever trusted with that. He thinks he fell for Mick completely in that moment. 

 

“Kinda like cuddling too.” Len admitted, quietly, “And you.”

 

The tension between them was so thick that even his quiet confession felt like way too much. He wanted to reach out, to hold Mick, to pull him close and promise him that this was enough, that as long as he had Mick, it was enough. It was a lot for 15 years old, but there was something about him even then, that Len knew Mick wasn’t just a phase, a simple teenage infatuation. 

 

Mick made the first move in the end, grabbing Len into a bear hug and holding him close to his chest. Len’s arms came up to wrap around him, and they simply stood for long moments, clinging to each other like there was nobody else in the world. 

 

And, oh God, there may as well not have been.

 

Their break up was still one of the worst fucking pains that Len had ever felt. 

 

Len’s stint in the joint ended, and though Len insisted he would wait for Mick, Mick had told him not to. He wanted Len to experience the world, explore his feelings for other people, experience the things Mick didn’t quite understand. Len was 16, he didn’t know who he was yet, and Mick didn’t want him to miss out. He promised he would always be in Len’s life, and all he wanted was to see him happy. If that meant him falling in love with someone, having the physical relationship that Mick couldn’t give him, then he’d done his job. 

 

Though Len didn’t like it, not one fucking bit, he understood. He wasn’t a saint, and he’d tried to kiss Mick, to help him with morning wood and push Mick with whispers of  _ how do you know if you’ve never done it?  _ He was a teenage boy, and he was an asshole and Mick didn’t deserve that.

 

He promised Mick that this wasn’t the end for them, and Mick agreed, believed him completely.

 

(Thirty years later, and they were both right.)

 

\---x

 

Falling in love with a porn director was so unbelievably cliché that Len was almost ashamed to have done it, but they were three of the best years of his life.

 

After getting out of the joint again at 21, Len hadn’t exactly had a lot of legitimate job prospects. Mick had called in a few favours with some of his friends, and that had lead to Leonard Snart to the set of Star Fuck 2: The Search For Cock, and it’s utterly beautiful director, Carl Rural.

 

The epitome of tall, dark and handsome, with a lyrical New Zealand accent, Carl was like something straight out of one of Len’s fantasies. By the end of their first day on set, Carl had had Len pinned up against a badly made wooden spaceship, fucking him so much better than his co-’star’ had. They’d been slick, sweaty, greasy and green, and laughing so hard that Len had known this wasn’t going to be a one time thing.

 

He’d retired from porn after three films, having been offered a construction job on a new scientific research centre. Carl had continued his directing work, and Len had loved hearing his stories from the set. (He’d also enjoyed helping him figure out some very creative positions for his films.) 

 

Their relationship was good, so good. They were absolutely crazy about each other,  _ I love you _ after three months, a nice apartment after four, Lisa joining them at the end of the first year. The world was good, Len was happy, things were coming up roses. 

 

And then Carl had lost his job, and Len had seen one of his old friends from the joint, and the job was so easy, the score so good. They’d be able to keep their home, keep Lisa, they’d be set as long as it took for Carl to find something else. It was perfect. 

 

Until Carl had found out. 

 

The fight that had ensued went on for hours, until both were hoarse. Carl had thought he was better, knew better than this now, Len had told him leopards don’t change their spots. Carl had stormed out of the apartment, telling him he was going to stay with a friend. 

 

Broken hearted, Len had gone ahead with the heist anyway, and he’d been reckless and got caught. 

 

He was thrown away for seven years, and even though Carl had tried to visit more than once, Len had always refused to see him. 

 

(He’d seen Carl a few hours before joining the Legends, on his way from saying goodbye to Lisa. He’d been walking home past a park, and Carl had been there. He was laid out on the grass, with an arm thrown over his eyes. Len had watched for a moment, as a younger man and a little girl snuck across the grass, both of them shushing each other.

 

As they’d got within a few feet of him, Carl had sat up and grabbed the little girl round the belly, lifting her up into the air. She let out an almighty squeal, followed by a giggle and a cry of “Daddy!” The younger man, bright blue eyes and a soft greying beard, laughed fondly at the pair of them. Carl had grabbed his leg and pulled him to the floor as well, pressing a sweet kiss to his cheek. They looked like the perfect family. Len is glad Carl got that, he deserved it). 

 

\---x

 

Eloise was practically perfect, aside from her appalling taste in men. (Her own words as she finally handed Len her number, after weeks of playful flirting). 

 

He met her on a job, a techie that Mick had brought on board to help them hack through a new security system. Len usually preferred to work old school, bypass security with a few quick snips in the right place, get in and out. 

 

Tall and slender, yet strong. Short black hair, perfectly coiffed into a  _ fuck you _ faux hawk. There was a wicked sparkle in her dark eyes, and a smirk on blue painted lips. She was beautiful, but Len’s heart was won when she opened her mouth. A sharp wit to match Len’s own, and no fear of telling him or Mick to stop being idiots. 

 

Their courtship was slower than Len was used to, but Len fell fast. Quiet coffee dates, dinners at Eloise’s apartment, and long talks late into the night. There were soft kisses at doorsteps, and slightly more heated ones on couches, but for the longest time it didn’t progress past that. Len would have been happy if it had never gone past that. He was older now, less controlled by his hormones. She stimulated his mind, and kept him on his toes. That was what he really wanted.

 

After their first job together however, things finally progressed. The thrill of a perfect score, the whisky they’d shared with Mick at the safehouse, the way Eloise’s legs looked in her tight leather pants, the way her eyes followed the lines of Len’s body, it all lead to them crashing together the moment Eloise slammed the door to her apartment behind them. 

 

As Len’s hands slipped under the bottom of her shirt, Eloise pulled away, hands grabbing his. He’d asked her what was wrong, if it had been too much, had  _ apologised  _ and when did Leonard Snart apologise? (When a partner was uncomfortable and he’d maybe pushed too far, he was a thief, not an entitled piece of shit). 

 

A quiet, small voice, not at all like the proud, confident woman Len knew, spoke up. She pulled Len to her and whispered quietly in his ear, “Len, I’m transgender.”

 

Len isn’t proud of how long it took him to reply. It felt like an eternity, and he can only imagine how long it must have felt to Eloise. There wasn’t even a question in his mind as to whether he wanted to stay with her. He loved her. 

 

He pressed a kiss to her cheek, to her lips and held her face in his hands. 

 

“You’re perfect.”

 

The smile that split her face as she leaned in to kiss him again was nothing short of blinding. They made love that night, and Len made sure to tell her how incredible and beautiful she was. (Eloise made sure to remind him that she knew, because come on, she’d looked in a mirror). There was laughter and smiling and jokes and it was fucking perfect, and Len thought this was it. Eloise was his soulmate. How could she not be?

 

Six years later, and the answer became obvious. 

 

There was a diamond on Eloise’s finger, bought and paid for, a house and a goldfish. There were photos on the shelves, and a coffee maker that was way too expensive, which  _ was _ stolen. 

 

She’d been away in Star City, working with a crew on stealing money from Palmer Tech - and years later, Len would laugh. It was supposed to be a simple job, they were supposed to be professionals, Eloise trusted them, and instead things had gone ass up. The cops had traced their untraceable IP, and the sirens had blared as soon as Eloise had got through the first firewall. She’d managed to get away before the police had got to them, pulling one of Len’s favourite tricks, diapers in the back of her minivan getaway vehicle and a frantic excuse on her tongue. 

 

She’d driven straight back to Central City, 400 miles at a near break neck speed, and all but collapsed when she’d got through the door. There was anger, there were tears, she was a wreck and Len didn’t know what to do past holding her. She clung to him as she cried, tears streaming down her face, angry and hurt. 

 

She started ranting at him, angry that she was nearly caught, ready to quit the whole goddamn thing. She couldn’t do it anymore, she couldn’t risk that again, she couldn’t risk jail, couldn’t risk everything going to shit again. She wanted out.  _ Damnit Len, let’s get away, please, please, let’s get out. _

 

The answer was supposed to be  _ yes, anywhere _ . He wanted to say  _ yes, anywhere _ . And yet… 

 

She saw the look on his face, the split second of hesitation. Since Carl, Leonard had accepted that this is who he is. He’s a thief, a criminal, and  _ he loves it _ . He wants to tell Eloise that he’ll give it all up, but he knows he’d be lying. He knows it’d be to placate her, and no matter where they went, he’d fall back into it because it’s who he is. He’d break her heart, and he’d ruin her life and that’s not what she deserves. 

 

“El…” 

 

Her shoulders slumped, and she knew. She shook her head, and reached to pull the ring off her finger. 

 

“No. Keep it. Use it to help your new life.” 

 

Eloise smiled sadly, and leaned in to give him a final kiss, “I hope you find what you’re looking for Lenny.” 

 

He finds the ring in his pocket when he pulls his jeans off that night, and never quite has the heart to part with it. 

 

(Leonard looks her up during one of his first nights on the Waverider, feeling melancholy and reminded of her by Sara. She works testing the strength of computers security systems now, is one of the top women in her field. She’s unmarried, but there’s the same handsome man on her arm in all the photos Leonard sees of her, looking at her like she’s the world. He’ll take it.)

 

\---x 

 

The Waverider was  _ complicated _ .

 

On the one hand, there was Raymond. Beautiful, brilliant,  _ infuriating _ Raymond. A billionaire with a heart of gold and some weird Barry Allen style ideas about how Leonard was a hero in disguise. Raymond adored him. Even when he didn’t completely trust him, Raymond looked at him like he was worth something, and shit, Leonard wanted so much to prove to him that he was. 

 

On the other hand, there was Mick. He’d kept his promise, and they’d spent a lot more time together over the years. While their friendship was enough, being with him day in day out was bringing back the pure, innocent, desperate love that Leonard had for him. He ached for Mick to hold him like they had in the old days, to trace the lines of his face, whisper quiet secrets to him that would be too loud in the light of day, and look at him like he was the world. 

 

So he kept his distance, flirted with Sara, teased Ray and pulled the Captain Cold persona over him like a mask. He wasn’t going to choose, and he wasn’t going to hurt them by pursuing both. 

 

And then because,  _ so help him _ , the universe truly worked in mysterious ways, Raymond and Mick actually become something approaching friends. Ray took a beating for Mick, Mick saved Ray from the gulag and Leonard didn’t quite know how to deal with that. Mick’s eyes started to drift to Raymond when they’re in a room, and Leonard has noticed Ray looking back. 

 

Leonard wondered if backing off meant he’d lost them both, and instead of using his words like a big boy, he froze them out further. He insulted Raymond, he pushed Mick out, he amped up his moves on Sara and he let them be to figure out whatever they needed to figure out. 

 

And then? 

 

Then the Oculus happened.


	2. Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Being reborn, remade, pulled back together from a million, billion particles scattered through time and space hurt._
> 
> _As he slowly came back to himself, his skin felt tight and his body felt heavy and clumsy. He had to think about breathing, and blinking, about everything that the human body should just know. His head is pounding, and every tiny noise around him is like nails clawing down a chalkboard. There’s a quiet beeping, and a buzzing which he thinks are supposed to be voices around him._
> 
> \---x
> 
> In which Leonard Snart slowly gets over a bout of being dead, some things have changed, and some haven't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was 95% written when ColdAtom week was going on, however I couldn't quite figure out an ending for it. So here you go, have the nice fix-it part.

Being reborn, remade, pulled back together from a million, billion particles scattered through time and space  _ hurt. _

As he slowly came back to himself, his skin felt tight and his body felt heavy and clumsy. He had to think about breathing, and blinking, about everything that the human body should just know. His head is pounding, and every tiny noise around him is like nails clawing down a chalkboard. There’s a quiet beeping, and a buzzing which he thinks are supposed to be voices around him. 

He wants to open his eyes, but he fears any light will scald his retinas, so he keeps them tightly closed. He’s not so sure he even has the strength for such a small movement anyway.

The buzzing begins to separate out, men, women, voices he thinks he knows, voices he doesn’t. He can pick out words here and there, his brain scrambling to remember what they mean. 

_ Dead.  _

_ Gideon. _

_ Captain Lance.  _

_ Days. _

_ Weeks. _

_ Never.  _

It’s too much. He needs to rest. He needs to heal. He needs to process. 

\---x

He doesn’t know how long it is before he ‘wakes’ up again. He still hurts, but things feel clearer. He can breathe without concentrating, and the noises around him are more precise. There’s still the steady beeping, but there’s a low, steady voice speaking by him as well. It takes a little while, but he tunes himself into it, and he knows that voice. He knows it as well as his own.

“- would have burned them all to the ground for you, Lenny.” 

_ Mick. _

He wants to smile, wants to reach out, wants to let him know that he can hear him, that he’s here. He wants him to know that he knows. 

“Come back to me, Lenny.” 

He wants to. He will.

\---x 

The next voice he hears, the next voice he recognises is someone who shouldn’t be here, who shouldn’t be stood by his side as he knits himself back together. The soft, warm, eternally sunny voice of Raymond is still cheery, but holds so much sadness as well. 

“I did not make a good Leonard Snart.” 

Shit, he  _ really _ wishes he’d been aware for that story. 

“I hope I helped Mick. I wanted to help Mick. Not just because it’s what I do, but because he’s Mick and...”

Raymond’s voice stops, and Leonard thinks he knows. 

“Shit.” There’s a scrape and it’s loud, and Leonard thinks he twitches at the noise. Raymond doesn’t seem to notice, so maybe he doesn’t.  

“I thought it was you. I thought my big, dumb, hopeless crush was you and now Mick too?” Ray sounds so scared, and hurt, and frightened, and Leonard wants to  _ help  _ him, “Well, at least I have a type.” 

There’s silence in the room. It’s quiet, the beeping of the heart monitor is all he can hear for so long. 

“I can’t do this right now.” is so quiet, Leonard isn’t even sure he really heard it. 

\---x

It becomes a regular thing. Leonard slowly heals through his injuries, unconscious and unable to figure out how to wake up properly. 

Mick and Ray come and sit with him, and talk to him. He thinks others do too, but he doesn’t know them, he doesn’t hear them properly. Mick and Ray he knows. 

Mick will sit quietly, tell him little things about how  _ Haircut is an idiot  _ and then grunt because  _ he’s a good guy though, Lenny.  _ There’s fondness in his voice, and Leonard knows that he’s as good as in love. He can’t find it in him to be jealous. He has no energy.

Besides the way Mick talks to him, about him as well -  _ wish I told you how good you were too  _ \- he has no need to be.

Raymond is different. Raymond  _ never shuts up _ . (Leonard thinks his first words might be shut up.) It’s comforting though, the constant chatter. It reminds him that he really is still alive again. Ray tells him about the team, about the people that Leonard doesn’t remember just yet and people he doesn’t think he’s ever known. Ray tells him how Mick is coping, and how he wishes he could help him more. Leonard wishes he knew just how much he was helping.

He always tells Leonard that he misses him, and Leonard wishes he knew the feeling was mutual. 

\---x

Leonard opens his eyes on a Thursday.

And as the blurriness subsides, and his eyes adjust to the light, the first thing he sees is Raymond’s face. His ridiculous hair, his big brown eyes, and that blinding, perfect smile. He’s the most gorgeous sight Leonard has ever seen. 

“Leonard?” 

He wants to fuck with him, ask him who he is, ask him where he is, but he’s still so tired. All he can do is stare at the man in front of him, and God, he’d forgotten just how beautiful he was. 

“Gideon, Mick, get Mick.” Ray chokes out, still unwilling to take his eyes off Leonard, as if he’ll disappear or fall back asleep. 

Leonard doesn’t even want to blink in case his eyes don’t open again, he doesn’t want to give up before he sees Mick too. 

And  _ oh Mick.  _ He’s breathtaking, more open than Leonard has ever seen him. There’s no mask of indifference, no fake smile, just a look of sheer reverence as he looks down at him. There’s tears in his eyes, and he’s not trying to hide them.

“ _ Lenny. _ ”

God, Leonard loves him.

(Them?)

\---x

It’s another few days before Leonard can speak. It seems right that Mick is the first person he speaks with, Raymond being the first person he saw. His voice is rough, and he can barely choke out a few words, but that’s all he needs. 

Mick has been telling him about the new team members. There’s Amaya, who Mick seems fond of. She seems to like Mick, to be one of the few team members who sees past the gruff exterior and knows he’s a good man. 

There’s also Nate, who Mick seems less fond of, which is far closer to what Leonard would expect. 

Now Leonard’s eyes are open, Mick seems to be less willing to open his heart to him. Like when they were kids, and the light of day was too much for their secrets. It hurts, but he understands. 

But Leonard has been dead, and he might need to learn shame again.

“Love you, Mick.” He rasps out. It’s barely above a whisper, but he knows Mick heard it. 

He can see the way Mick stiffens, just a little, the way his lips twitch and how off guard he looks. 

Mick reaches out, brushes Leonard’s hand with his own, “Love you.”

Leonard musters as much energy as he possibly can, to catch Mick’s hand with his own. He just wants to hold him, even the tiniest bit. Mick seems to get what he’s doing, and takes hold of his hand properly. 

“Oh, I… I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Ray is stood in the doorway, eyes fixed straight on Leonard and Mick’s joined hands. He looks completely broken, Leonard hopes he has enough strength to fix it.

“ _ Raymond. _ ” Len chokes out, “Please.”

Mick turns to look at him, jerks his head, “Get over here, Haircut.”  

Ray pauses for a moment, before slinking across the room. Ray manages to pulls a smile together. 

“Guess everyone was right about you guys.” He says, trying to muster a laugh, “I’m happy you got a second chance.” 

And oh God, he sounds so sincere. Leonard gives in to the urge he’s felt since the first time he woke up with him chattering away.

“Shut… up.” 

Raymond zips his lips, actually mimes zipping them, throwing away the key. Does Leonard  _ really _ want to keep this nerd? Mick shakes his head. He squeezes Len’s hand, before he lets go. He gets to his feet and pushes Ray into the seat. 

“ _ Idiots. _ ”

Leonard just looks at Ray for a long moment, gathering his strength again. Mick squeezes Ray’s shoulder, “Y’know where to find me, Doc.”

He leaves the room, leaving Ray and Leonard to their awkward silence. 

“Guess I kinda made an ass outta myself telling you I liked you, and, uh, him.” Ray avoids looking too closely at Leonard. 

“No.” Leonard says, and he’s so tired, and he wishes he could do this another day, finding the strength to confess to two people in one day when you’re recovering from death, it’s exhausting. He can manage a few more seconds, a few more words. 

“We like you too, moron.” 

The last thing Leonard sees before he falls asleep again is Ray’s blinding smile. It’s a nice sight to fall back asleep to. 

\---x

When he wakes up again, Ray and Mick are next to one another. Ray’s dozed off on Mick’s shoulder, and Mick has his arm wrapped around Ray’s waist. He’s looking at Ray like he’s the whole damn world, and Leonard knows that look all too well.

“How did we get here, Lenny?” Mick asks, still gazing at Ray. 

Leonard reaches out as best he can, and Mick leans across to take his hand, still holding Ray. 

“Dunno.” Leonard says, voice a little stronger than he expected, “You wanna stick it out?” 

Mick smiles. The look still seems a little foreign on his face, and Leonard’s heart still clenches every time he sees it. 

“Ain’t got anywhere else to go.” Mick replies, which is as close to an impassioned yes as Mick gets. 

"Mmm." Leonard agrees, “Nowhere else I’d rather be.” 

 

**Author's Note:**

> BTW, anyone interested in Len and Carl's first meeting might be interested in [this trainwreck](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7797229).
> 
> Come scream at me on [Tumblr](http://damnstevens.tumblr.com).


End file.
